Valkyries Own the Glass, Stun the Aces 71-60 in Semis Game 1
Golden State beat Las Vegas 71-60 in Game 1 of the semifinals by controlling the boards, 52-25 (ESPN box score). Kiah Stokes did not score, but her 14 rebounds, including seven on offense, repeatedly kept possessions alive for the Valkyries. Rebounds here use the player totals in the linked box score.
The finish
With 2:58 left, Kaitlyn Chen swatted Mai Yamamoto at the rim, Golden State won a coach's challenge on the play, and Gabby Williams went the other way for a layup and a 69-58 lead (ESPN play-by-play).
Vegas still had a pulse with under five minutes to go. A'ja Wilson hit two free throws at 4:44 to make it 65-58. Las Vegas then went nearly four minutes without scoring. Kayla Thornton finished a running layup off a Williams feed at 4:03. Chen's block came next, then the Williams layup. At 2:24, Wilson went to the line with a chance to cut it to nine and missed both. Chen drove for another layup at 2:00 and it was 71-58 (play-by-play).
After Wilson's free throws at 4:44, Vegas didn't score again until a Kalani Brown putback with 53.4 seconds left. That's almost four minutes of nothing in a playoff game.
How it got there
The first quarter was a heavyweight fight. Wilson scored 10 in the first quarter, with pull-ups and turnarounds, and the Aces led 18-17 after her jumper at 1:25. Then Golden State ripped off a 10-0 run that carried into the second quarter. Williams scored an and-one layup and two free throws, Chen buried a 25-foot three, and Aminata Gueye scored inside to make it 27-18 (play-by-play). The Valkyries won the first quarter 22-18 and led 34-31 at the half (game page).
Chelsea Gray kept Vegas close early in the third with two threes in about a minute. It didn't last. Gueye scored seven points in the last four minutes of the quarter, including an and-one layup that made it 52-42, and Golden State took a 56-48 lead into the fourth (play-by-play).
Jackie Young hit a 27-footer early in the fourth to cut it to 58-53. Williams answered with a 27-foot step-back three at 7:21. Williams' three restored an eight-point lead with 7:21 left.
Gabby Williams ran the show
Williams finished with 25 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists on 9-of-18 shooting, including 4-of-7 from deep (box score). Chen gave them 11 off the bench, and Gueye went 4-of-5 for 9 points in just 13 minutes.
The rebound story
Here's the stat that decides this series if it keeps up. Golden State had 17 offensive rebounds. Las Vegas had two (box score). Kiah Stokes went 0-of-3 from the field and still might have been the most important player on the floor, with 14 rebounds, 7 of them offensive, plus 4 blocks. Thornton added 11 boards with 5 on the offensive end. Golden State also won points in the paint 34-18.
Vegas shot 21-of-62, which is 34 percent. Wilson scored 24 but needed 21 shots to get there and went 8-of-11 at the line (box score). Young was 4-of-15. Jewell Loyd played 17 minutes and didn't score. The Aces' biggest lead all day was three, and Golden State led for 81 percent of the game.
What it means for Game 2
Las Vegas can shoot better than 34% and still have a rebounding problem. Golden State finished with 17 offensive boards to the Aces' two. That gave the Valkyries more chances to score while limiting Las Vegas to mostly one-shot possessions.
My Game 2 pick is Golden State. Stokes and Thornton combined for 25 rebounds, and Las Vegas needs more help around Wilson to reverse that advantage.
Box score: ESPN.
How this story was made: Ryan Moalemi picked the story and the angle. Full Court Buckets gathers its own game data and verifies it against official box scores. AI tools drafted it from that data and the sources linked above so it could post the same night, then Ryan reviewed and edited it before publishing. How we make Full Court Buckets
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